By Canadian Press

Sam Montembeault backstops Canadiens to 3-0 win over Oilers

Nov 18, 2024 | 8:30 PM

MONTREAL — Sam Montembeault stopped 30 shots as the Montreal Canadiens blanked Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Monday.

Brendan Gallagher, Kaiden Guhle and Jake Evans — into an empty net — scored for Montreal (7-10-2), which matched its longest win streak of the season with a second consecutive victory.

Montembeault earned his second shutout of the campaign after a 48-save showing against Toronto in the season-opener.

Calvin Pickard made 23 saves for Edmonton (9-8-2). The Oilers lost their second in a row after falling 4-3 in overtime to Toronto on Saturday.

Gallagher deflected a hard pass from Mike Matheson into the top right corner to open the scoring with 31 seconds left in the second period.

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The veteran forward nearly added another before the buzzer when Christian Dvorak found him in the slot, but Pickard robbed Gallagher with a pad save.

In the third period, Guhle beat Pickard short side after a pretty passing play between Cole Caufield and Jake Evans to make it 2-0 at 5:52.

The Oilers pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 4:52 remaining, only for Evans to score into the open cage with 3:08 left.

Takeaways

Canadiens: Montreal outshot the Oilers 11-9 in the third period. They also denied the Oilers on three power-play opportunities. Despite its stacked offence, Edmonton ranks in the bottom third of the league with the man-advantage this season.

Oilers: Edmonton was without defenceman Darnell Nurse. Head coach Kris Knoblauch announced earlier Monday that Nurse will be out five to 10 days. Nurse was injured by a hit to the head from Toronto forward Ryan Reaves on Saturday.

Key moment

Montembeault stood tall on a partial break from Jeff Skinner midway through the third, denying the backhand with a pad save to earn “Monty! Monty!” chants from the Bell Centre crowd.

Key stat

Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played in his 900th NHL game, all with the Oilers. Drafted first overall by the franchise in 2011, Nugent-Hopkins has 252 goals and 455 assists in that span.

Up next

Oilers: Wrap up a three-game Eastern Canada road trip against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.

Canadiens: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press